Edison Carter was a hard-hitting reporter for Network 23, who sometimes uncovered things that his superiors in the network would have preferred kept private. Eventually, one of these instances required him to flee his workspace, upon which he was injured in a motorcycle accident in a parking lot. Bryce Lynch uploaded a copy of his mind into a computer, giving birth to the character Max Headroom, as the last words seen by Edison Carter before impact were "Max Headroom," specifying vehicle clearance height in the parking lot.

The series depicted very little of the past described by Edison, though he did meet a female televangelist (whom he once dated when his reporting put him at odds with the Vu Age Church that she now headed) and a former colleague/rival who later died (and whose death sent Edison off on close to a rampage to avenge that death).

Edison cares about his co-workers, especially Theora Jones and Bryce Lynch, and he has a deep respect for his producer Murray (although he rarely shows it).

According to a personal statistics file displayed on a computer screen in the series, Edison is 6'2", weighing 180 pounds.